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BAIT FISHING. 



pose showing how they should be baited. If one worm only is 

 used, and that worm is a lob worm, the hook should be run in at 

 the head and worked on through the body of the worm till it 

 reaches the very tail, the upper part of the worm being threaded 

 above the arming on the gut sometimes to the length of three or 

 four inches or more above the point of the hook. If your worm 

 is a red one, the point of the hook should be run in at the tail, 

 and carried on through to the head. The reason of baiting the 

 two kinds of worms differently is that a trout generally shows a 

 preference to the tail end of a lob worm, and the head extremity of 

 a red one, there being something in the brains of the latter which 

 particularly suits the palate of a trout, in which the lob worm is 

 sadly deficient, whilst his tough hard head seems by no means so 

 delicate as his nether extremity ; which a trout invariably attempts 

 to bolt first, often where the worm is a large one, biting it off be- 

 low the knot, and rejecting the upper part altogether : for this 

 reason, when my lob worms are large, I cut them off at the knot, 

 only using the part below, and I am confident I have succeeded 

 better in consequence. It must also be kept in view that unim- 

 portant as it may appear which part of a worm a trout will swallow 

 first, it is very essential if you wish to catch him, that it should 

 be the part that contains the hook ; for if the hook be swallowed 

 heel foremost, it will probably give the fish's mouth a prick, though 

 it rarely take a fast hold, and should you strike at a time like this, 

 its only effect will be to draw the whole bait in a lump together, 

 thus entirely preventing the hook from fixing itself. 



If two worms are used, they should be put on according to the 

 directions laid down by Cotton, which are as follows: "You are 

 first to run the point of your hook into the head of your first 

 worm, and so down through his body, till it be past the knot, and 

 then let it out and strip the worm above the arming that you may 

 not bruise it with your fingers till you have put on the other, by 

 running the point of the hook in below the knot, and upwards 

 through the body towards his head, till the hook be but just cover- 

 ed by it, which being done, you are then to slip your first worm 

 down over the arming again, till the knots of both worms meet 

 together.' 1 



Walton also gives directions for baiting a single worm which 

 for bottom fishing is preferable to any other; the hook being by 

 that mode less likely to catch in any slight obstacle it may encoun- 



